I enjoyed the original Alan Wake immensely: for me it is still one of the prime examples of how an action-adventure 3rd person game can be made into an exciting and scary experience. So I started playing Alan Wake's American Nightmare with high expectancies, but quickly the game let me rather down own this. American Nightmare is not really a sequel nor a prequel to the original, it's more like a standalone game on the same "universe", but on a much smaller scale, so in the end it felt like some sort of expansion pack to me, using the same protagonist, game mechanics and of course game engine.

This engine still stands firm and delivers more than decent graphics: it's great in creating an atmosphere thanks to superb lighting, something which the original game used to immensely scaring effect. Although graphics are fine in this new installment, the actual gameplay is not. It felt almost painful to see the original game's tension and feeling of being utterly desperate while fighting off the forces of darkness turned into some Rambo-like experience. In the original game, guns, ammo and the ever-important batteries for the flashlight (sometimes it was the ONLY weapon to fight of enemies) were so scarce at moments that it almost drove me crazy, but the feeling of relief and accomplishment after finally getting further in the story, was all the more satisfying for it. American Nightmare uses the same game mechanics, but provides such an arsenal of over-powerful weapons, an almost endless supply of ammo and a flashlight that recharges in a matter of seconds. As a result of these changes, the entire gaming experience changed from an exciting horror adventure to a lacklustre shooter where I just blasted my way past hordes of enemies. Were it not for the obvious comparison to the original game, I'd probably have enjoyed American Nightmare a bit more, especially since after finishing the story there are a number of arcade-levels where the goal is just to get as many kills and as high a score as possible. These are played on fairly large and well-developed maps, and felt like playing more natural than the story.

The story, perhaps the main protagonist in the original Alan Wake, is perhaps the weakest point in this newer installment. It's made coplex in an unnatural feeling way and lacks focus. But most problematic of all, it forces the player to play through the three locations (only three!!) three times, each time "altering history" a little bit, but in the end this feels more like a gimmick and the net result is simply too repetitve a game.

I'd loved to give this game a heartily recommendation as a worthy addition to the brilliant original one, but it really fails to do so. As it stands, it's not a bad game, but it did not live up to my expectancies at all.

Gameplay: 15/30Graphics: 14/20Sound: 8/10Technical: 6/10 (it felt like being slower and less well optimized)Replayability: 6/10 (SP only, but the arcade levels add some extra challenges with leaderbords)Steam integration: 5/10 (no cards, a small bunch of achievements, while the original game really shined here)Personal appreciation: 4/10

It's not a bad game, but it's also not great. The graphics, sound, and voice acting are all good. The gameplay is fun. But it just feels empty. The story is a little too deep and convoluted, therefore you're not missing much if you don't play Alan Wake first. That being said, it would probably spoil some of the story from Alan Wake.

Anyway, it's like they looked at Alan Wake and said, "Our target demographic likes lots of action, shooting, and sexiness. Just take the first game and add in lots more guns and some hot chicks." With the plentiful guns and ammo, the game is fairly easy. American Nightmare is just a quick, fun little game and it's probably best not to think about it too much.

American Nightmare would have been better entitled 'Deja Vu You', or 'Today is Tomorrows Yesterday' or rename some characters and title it 'Dead Pete Repeated', or even Ground Hog Night, of course without the burrowing rodents who easily frighten at the sight of their own shadows, which in this case, could have worked in the game because these shadows are not factors in how long a season is going to be but how long you live. Luckily, you are armed with the preferred weapon of mall cops everywhere and a shadows worst nightmare, a flashlight. Yes, forcing your will on those weaker than you with a flashlight has never been more enjoyable, except for in Alan Wake's predecessor game and maybe Knights of the Old Republic.

The best part of the Alan Wake series is the solid game engine it’s built on. American Nightmare runs so smoothly maxed out on my 7 year old processor and the graphics have improved over the prior installment. Though the other exception to the graphics in this game is that some of the characters are portrayed by live actors in cut scenes. They were not bad but it felt like they could have done more with CGI models rather than the actors being filmed on green screens, using CGI backgrounds. It made for bland effects.

The campaign for this sequel seemed like it could have been more of a side mission that would be play throughout different part of the first Alan Wake as you basically play the same 5 levels over and over, with the narrator for The Scary Door helping you relive the nightmare over again. The maps generally stay the same, though some parts of the levels do change slightly but most objects can be found in the same spot every time. For me, I found no replay value in this part of the game once I beat it.

To counter for the repetitiously repetitious campaign repetition, they threw in some wave based shooter survival maps they call 'Arcade Mode.' You get a couple different levels and luckily they are outside of the campaign maps. It gives this a little extra value but after finishing those, American Nightmare now sits in my "completed" archives in the cloud with Alan Wake.

I also found the demented and sick humor included on every tv screen in the game mildly amusing but I quickly lost intrest. They were not as well done, lacked the satire, nor did they have the variety as in the first game.

American Nightmare is great third person shooter outside of the small disappointments. If you like third person shooters it's worth checking out, especially enjoyed the first one.

As a huge fan of Alan Wake, I have to say I found Alan Wake's American Nightmare rather disappointing. What this game does well is the atmosphere, the gameplay, the voice acting, and other minor technical details. What is doesn't do well is the story.

The game gives you 9 missions, but it's more like 3; you essentially play 3 missions 3 times each. I won't go into detail, but each time you repeat one of the missions there is different dialogue and slightly modified objectives. You'll see what I mean after you finish the game. I think if the story hadn't been set up do this, it would have been a much better game. The game is actually labeled as a spinoff from the original set in the same universe, and man, ain't that the truth. If you were hoping to get any significant continuation of story from the original out of this game, I'm sorry to tell you, but you won't find it here. I would have been truly upset if this was the sequel.

Nevertheless, I still found the game enjoyable for everything it did right. If you are a die-hard Alan Wake fan, I recommend this to you. If you have not played Alan Wake before, I strongly urge you to play the original before playing this. If you played original Alan Wake and it wasn't necessarily your favorite game/you thought it was just alright, you might be better off waiting for the true sequel. Otherwise, this is a great game to pick up on a sale.

With independent additions happens that they are often quite different than what after the contact with the basic version players expect. Wake's journey gets less creepy and more shooty in the fun but still somehow manages to be entertaining.

I played this and the original Alan Wake. In this one I only played the story mode. The graphics are beautiful, it's easier than the previous one. The story here is quite nice. I wasn't on the edge like the previous one. Maybe because I got used to the setting. But please don't think you'll make 100 hours playing it. I finished it in one day (6 hours). This game and the original one are definitely worth playing if you grab it on an offer.

I have just ended this game, & I am still impressed with the engine and still love the protagonist as much.

For various reasons I preferred the first in the series by far.-The setting was more cozy to say it quickly. -The story very engaging. In this installment automatic weapons are introduced, which is a nice break-letting the lead fly. The forest [AW1] is something I appreciated rather than a heated "Texas" diner in the desert [American Nightmare] (Where I reside it's QUITE hot, letting my imagination roam was enjoyable).

I recommend the game;

-It is my favourite genre; 3rd person shooter. -I compare it favourably with Alan Wake 1, I just prefer 1.-It is HD (high definition), I played it on my Vista. -Compatible on most systems.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a game that folluws up on the succesfull "Alan Wake", starting it's story where the DLCs of the latter left of. So you should definitely play the original first, because of spoilers and because that is still better.But is Nightmare good as well? I'd say yes, but for different reasons than the original. Where Alan Wake had a story of horror, confusion and mystery, in Nightmare this is simply not possible anymore, since the player (or at least the Protagonist Alan) already knows what is behind it all. So the game has to go into a different direction.Nightmare has a good and fun combat system, great soundtrack (that raises some of the moments in the game to nothing short of awesome), an interesting story that fully embraces the new possibilities now that Alan knows what is going on, and most importantly one of the best villains in Video Game history: Mr. Scratch. Said villain appears on screen only as a real human played by an actor, who does a marvellous job at looking like the perfect psycho killer. With superpowers. And an army of unholy monsters.

Admittedly, the game's world is not that large and the game doesn't take that long to complete (except if you really like the combat and get into the arcade mode), but if you happen to get it on sale, for say under 5 bucks, you should give it a try, especially if you liked the original.

Pros:- Continuation of the exellent torch/shooting mechanics- I like the games style and though visually was really good- Increased difficulty as game goes on, I love how the AI circal you- Both a Story mode and Arcade levels

Cons:- Repetitive to the point where it got silly- Corny storyine and narration

Verdict: A decent stand alone piece of DLC, despite the repetitive nature the action was enjoyable enough for me to see this through.

I loved Alan Wake. However I was skeptical coming into American Nightmare and rightly so. I'd call AN a spin-off rather than a sequel to Alan Wake given its slightly brighter color palette and more action-oriented gameplay. The story, as well, while having some connections to the original it doesn't have the same amount of effort put into it and seems to only be there so that there's something to call a story.

However, the game itself is not delluding itself that it's something that it's not. I feel this was done consciously to give Alan Wake fans a quick fix of what they liked while I suspect a sequel is in the works. But therein lies the game's biggest caveat: It's a game for Alan Wake fans. People coming into the series with American Nightmare will find themselves confused and lacking valuable backstory information, no matter the game's good intentions and attempts to bring everyone up to speed.

The graphics are doing new and interesting things with color and lighting in this new western desert setting as opposed to the gray and blue of the Rocky Mountains' nights in the previous game, but the soundtrack seems to fall short this time, lacking the storyline integration that made the first one great.

All in all in spite of all this I had fun with Alan Wake's American Nightmare and I'm giving it a thumbs up, but with a footnote: For fans of the series.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a very deserving spinoff of the main game. Aside from giving us a whole new story that weirdly ties into the main plot, gameplay issues have also been addressed. Some of the new features include a whole new array of weapons and Alan being able to run longer this time. Some fans may be turned off by the new laid back and casualized style but keep in mind that this is a spinoff - not Alan Wake 2.

The inclusion of an arcade mode is very welcome addition. In it, you fight enemies in wave-based stages with a 10 minute timer until the sun comes up. You then gain stars based on how many enemies you defeated and how well you dodge, which in turn, unlocks new stages which you can compete in for leaderboards.

And there you have it. It may not be the sequel that fans are waiting for but at least it let's us catch a glimpse of things that we can expect in Alan Wake 2.

Negatives:- You essentially repeat the same story three times. There are some shortcuts in the later versions, but this was still annoying- Some of the conversations are needlessly long and uninteresting- Short. I finished the game in 3.8 hours, and considering you repeat essentially the same story multiple times, that story is pretty brief.

Comments:I purchased the original Alan Wake game with no real expectations, and was extremely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. American Nightmare has the same interesting mechanics, but the story is not nearly as well done, and the fact that you basically repeat the same thing multiple times is disappointing. Still, it was enough fun that, if you liked the original Alan Wake, it's worth a playthrough if you can pick it up on sale.

soo... first i want to say is that i don't really thinks this is the Sequel everyone was waiting for... game really, really is nice, but i kinda don't like story, original one was much, much better then this one is. well... that doesn't mean that American Nightmare is bad game, ofc no, game is worth buying if you like this genre.+Athmosphere+Gameplay+New Weapons